It is estimated that, at present, Instagram has 500 million active users on a daily basis. And it is estimated that, in addition, about 80 percent of the accounts follow a company or brand on the social network.
There is no doubt that marketers have got it right: Instagram has managed to become one of the most promising social networks. And stories can be very helpful in highlighting the image of the company on a daily basis. Although it is also an excellent option for practically any user who wants to use them.
What are Instagram stories?
The so-called Instagram stories consist of a collection of videos and photos that help to generate engagement with users, because they only last a few seconds and are only visible for a certain time. In fact, they only remain on the screen for a few seconds, and they end up disappearing completely after 24 hours (which begins to count from the moment of publication).
They are characterized, therefore, for being a separate tool from our feed, so that users can finally choose to see them or not.
One of its main objectives is basically to highlight spontaneous moments , which have been captured on the spot, and which can even function as images (although, as we have mentioned, it is also possible to use short videos).
The idea is basically to promote our brand or profile by building an authentic image , but above all, much more alive! Not surprisingly, approximately 33 percent of the most viewed stories come from companies, thus becoming an excellent opportunity.
How do Instagram stories work?
The user has access to the stories of the different profiles to which they are subscribed, and that we can easily find at the top of our news feed (within the Instagram app itself).
Those stories that we have not seen yet are represented by photos of user or company profiles, which are enclosed in colored circles.
In this way, when we want to view them, all we have to do is click on it, and scroll through the content by pressing the story that we are interested in viewing on the screen. In addition, it is also possible to “pause” a certain story, simply by holding down our finger on the screen.
How we can publish content in our story
If you want to publish your own story , the reality is that the process is very straightforward and simple. We just have to click on the photo of our profile (or on the small camera that we find above), located in the upper left part of the screen, or slide our finger to the right on the screen to access both the camera and the Instagram creation functionality.
It is also possible to do this by clicking on the ” + ” icon and, on the next screen, slide to the History screen. If this is the first time that we are going to do it, it is necessary to allow the app access to the camera and the microphone. Most likely, it is only necessary to allow access to the microphone. Click on Allow access to the camera activated and Allow access to the microphone , and confirm again by clicking on Allow .
Now you will have two options: press the button to take a single photo, or keep it pressed to record a video. You can also play with the different effects offered by Instagram by sliding your finger over the icons that appear at the bottom of the screen. Thus, by sliding one by one you will be able to check the effect it generates.
Once you have chosen the effect (if you wish), you can continue taking the photograph or recording the video.
Of course, it is necessary to take into account something important: for the moment, to publish a story in our feed it is essential to use the Instagram app , since the social network does not offer the possibility of publishing them also through the desktop web version .
